Styx Guitarist James ‘JY’ Young Looking Forward to Tour with Yes

Earlier this spring, the classic and progressive rock worlds rejoiced when it was announced that Styx and Yes would finally be co-headlining a tour together. Both prog giants in their own right, either group could have easily gone out and packed arenas on their own. However, the two bands elected to give their longtime fans the treat of seeing them both on the same stage.

Noisecreep recently spoke with founding Styx guitarist James ‘J.Y.’ Young about the upcoming Progressive Us Tour.

Young’s interest in Yes started early on in the group’s career. “The first time I heard Yes had to have been their ‘Time and a Word’ [1970] album. I was immediately blown away by the way they combined classical and rock elements together. It was a new thing for the time,” Young said.

“In a number of ways, Styx were profoundly influenced by Yes. You can certainly hear it in our song ‘Lorelei’ – which we play every night on tour – but that one also was inspired by ‘Baba O’Riley’ from The Who.”

“We’re just all really excited to be playing with them for the first time after all these years,” Young told us.

Styx is currently putting the finishing touches on ‘Regeneration, Volume 2,’ the follow-up to 2010’s seven-song ‘Regeneration, Volume 1′ EP. The track listing for the upcoming EP features new recordings of six Styx classics, plus covers of ‘High Enough’ and ‘Coming of Age,’ both originally done by Damn Yankees. Both volumes will be available for sale at every stop on the tour.

Should fans expect to see Styx and Yes coming out to play an encore together? “I guess it could – perhaps [laughter]. Yes have a new singer [Benoît David] and we haven’t met him yet. I hear he’s a big Styx fan.”

“Maybe we can all do a Beatles song together since we’re both so influenced by them. Styx have been playing ‘I Am the Walrus’ for years during our sets, and it’s always a lot of fun. But we could also play a song from each other’s records. I think people would like that.”

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